We have several problems that we need help on. 1. Sub floor. The house is raised (above a double brick garage and concrete stilts). The sub floor is floating pine, no underfloor insulation. The pine is not completely sealed around the edges. How do we approach this situation, just lay underfloor insulation, or air tight then insulate? If we air tight what do we use, acrylic caulk? 2. Thermal mass. The sub floor is double brick, half of it is acting as a retaining wall for the soil as its built on a slope. There is a stairwell in the middle of the house that goes downstairs into the garage, half of it is exposed double brick. It's literally freezing, often feels colder than outside. There is no space in the stairwell to insulate it. There is no cavity between the double brick. Could we use a reverse brick technique where we wrap insulation around the outside of the brickwork and use it as a thermal storage? Is there any point as it always feels cold because it's below soil level, so not sure if insulating will do anything. Also, in order to promote thermal storage, wouldn't it need to gain the heat form somewhere for a period of time.

Hi Kieran, I've spent a fun Sunday playing around with this... thanks for the challenge! Jumping in to post it though, I think my ideas overlap with Siriuskey and Lucia. Isn't it funny how similar solutions can be arrived at independently! Key points: - As far as possible, I've tried to stick with the existing walls. - Since Bed 2 & Bed 3 are quite small already, even though I've encroached into each to achieve separate entries, the impact is minimal, particularly for Bed 3. - I've used pocket doors to both ends of the WIR and to the store room for optimal functionality. - I've depicted Caroma Urbane compact toilet suites with wall concealed cisterns because they save a bit of space and both toilets can use that extra space in that direction. - It's a very stageable design. You may for instance decide to build the ensuite/WIR and reconfigure the bed 2/3 entries without doing any of the kitchen changes. Or you may decide to save the expense and not move the main WC into the existing store, though it does add a fair area to the living space (I've used the exact existing footprint of the store to save cost and demolition pain which is workable with the Caroma Urbane, but alternatively you could demolish and rebuild the wall behind the pan for a more spacious loo). - The Family/Dining area ends up being fairly generous and very flexible. I've added a door to the end of the corridor to screen the loo a bit better from the dining area and for noise separation for the study, but you may prefer to leave this off. - I've not mucked around with your windows, figuring the important thing was to get the concept down for you, except in the ensuite. Really good idea there to have a central mirror with a narrow window to each side to throw light on your face at the mirror. Has the side benefit of a symmetrical effect which is always good aesthetically. - I've also flipped the main bathroom door to relate better to Bed 2/Bed 3, though not strictly necessary. - I originally used the Bed 1 robe space as a big walk-in-pantry, but it didn't relate particularly well to the kitchen and it also left no provision for general storage. Rather than take up a lot of valuable kitchen space with a pantry which would reduce the length of the peninsula breakfast bar (not ideal), I came up with the idea of shallow shelves with a roller shutter which I think you'll find give you an amazing amount of readily accessible storage. I'd like to think it would be possible to source a horizonal roller shutter that would coil back into the dead space at the back of the fridge, but perhaps better to just go with a vertical shutter and avoid the headache!

For me, the very first thing that sticks out like a sore thumb, is the driveway running right past the front of the house, interrupting the indoor outdoor flow and so dangerous if you have small children. Guests currently drive past your entrance, then have to walk back down the driveway to traverse the small stairs to get to your front door. I have to question why you want to move the front door even further down the deck, to centralise it? You would be better off, moving the front door to the corner or short side of the lounge nearer the current garage. HOWEVER, if it were me, I'd relocate the garage and the front door to the dining room end of the house. The main steps to the verandah are already in place, waiting for your guests and the window that I see in the photo could easily become the front door without too much expense. That would free up your front lawn to allow for some beautiful outdoor entertaining options. I would turn the dining room into a small cosy guest or family lounge. I would then reconfigure the kitchen, so your breakfast bar becomes an island bench running along the front. The walkway between rooms is where the sink currently is. The kitchen sink window and the current front door would then be replaced with big french doors leading to your new entertainment lawns. I would relocate the dining area into the lounge space. This would allow good space for your very large dining table to have the presence that you wish it to have. Lastly, I would seriously consider re purposing the old garage so that it becomes your new lounge. The plans show that it is attached to the house, but the photo appears to show that it sits lower than the main floor. You would need to weigh up your options/budget to decide how to best achieve this [step down or raise the floor and roof heights] but I believe you should not rule out the added value and pleasure the extra space would provide.

Yes Tee, a few people have contacted me with same issues and it appears it’s in the engineering. We are all taking it further so we’ll se what happen, $17000 for one large room and hallway is not something to just live with, if not happy,